The present invention relates to a card loading device for sequentially loading accumulated non-recorded cards when information is to be recorded on the cards.
In a general card issue apparatus for loading a non-recorded card on which no information is recorded and recording information on the non-recorded card, a card loading device for loading accumulated non-recorded cards one by one is arranged. A card loading device of this type includes a card accumulating section for accumulating a large number of non-recorded cards and a card loading section for loading the non-recorded cards from the card accumulating section one by one. The card accumulating section comprises an elevator for accumulating a predetermined number of non-recorded cards and raising and lowering them, a roller for feeding a non-recorded card, and a motor for rotating the roller. When the conventional card loading device arranged as described above receives a card issue instruction upon a predetermined operation for an external apparatus, the device raises the elevator to raise the accumulated non-recorded cards, thereby bringing the non-recorded card accumulated at the uppermost position into contact with the roller arranged at the card feed position. The motor interlocked with the roller is rotated to rotate the roller in the feed direction, and the cards are fed to the loading port of the card loading section one by one by the rotational force of the roller.
However, the non-recorded cards accumulated on the elevator of the card loading device are attracted to each other by electrostatic charges, and, for example, two cards are simultaneously fed to the loading port of the card loading section, thereby causing an error. In this case, according to a conventional technique, an operator monitors the above card feed error to stop the operation of the card loading device each time the card feed error occurs and to inform the error. For this reason, the card loading device is frequently stopped, and the operating efficiency of the card issue apparatus including the card loading device decreases.